I’m a poet. Although I rarely speak about it, my number one goal with poetry is to help people around the world learn English. I want students to read my poems to learn and cultivate their English, and to practice critical/creative thinking. If my poetry ever does anything remotely impactful, I would be very satisfied if it were that (especially since that is a ridiculous goal!).
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve been having Spanish and English Zoom lessons with some friends in Argentina. Yesterday, one of them who is also an English teacher in San Pedro de Jujuy, Argentina, invited me to virtually participate in one of her English classes. Her students were developing their English by reading and analyzing my poems, that I have posted on my poetry blog. Honestly, it’s a good thing that I was asked to speak English during the class because I could not express all of the emotions I was feeling in Spanish.
Poetry has changed my life. I am very far from it, but another thing that I want to do through poetry is to build schools in places around the world where formal education is scarce. Poetry has given me a new world, and in these tough times, I am happy that it is allowing me to give back to the world.
